Horse-detacher.



No. 740,198. PATBNTED SEPT. 29, 1903. I H. F. SPIEGEL.

HORSE DETAGHER. APPLICATION 11,213 MAY 20, 1902.

wwmwow UNITED STATES Patented September 29, 1903.

HARRY F. SPIEGEL, OF KULM, NORTH DAKOTA.

HORSE-DETAGHER.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,198, datedSeptember 29, 1903.

. Application filed May 20, 1903- Serial No. 157,956. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY F. SPIEGEL, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Kulm, in the county of Logan,State of North Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Horse-Releasers;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same. This inventionrelates to horse-releasers for releasing the traces from theswingletree; and it has for its object to provide a construction whichmay be operated from within the vehicle or from behind thevehicle,'oth'er objects and advantages of the invention being understoodfrom the following description.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 is a top plan view of a vehicle equipped with the presentreleasing mechanism. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through one end of aswingletree and illustrating the mechanism for releasing the traces.Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clip at one end of a swingletree.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a vehicle including a body5, having wheels 6 and supporting-axles, and connected to the front axleare the usual hounds 7, to which is connected a pole 8, carrying adoubletreo 9. On the doubletree 9 aremounted the swingletrees 10 and 11,which are duplicates. In each end of each swingletree is formed alongitudinal passage 12, in which is a plunger 13, which is heldnormally with its outer end projected from the swingletre'e by means ofthe helical spring 14. Upon each end of each swingletree is a clip,including the disks 15 and 16, at the ends of a connecting-web 17, theweb being bent upon itself so that the disks are parallel and in axialalinement, and centrally'of the disks are perforations 18, which receivethe end of the bolt or plunger 13 when the latter is projected from theend of the swingletree. The end of the trace to be connected to theswingletree is passed between the disks 15 and 16, so that the eye ofthe trace alines with the perforations of the disks, and the bolt orplunger, which has been previously retracted, is reupon or attached tothe disk 16. side of each swingletree and communicating leased, so thatit engages through the eye and the trace is held to theswingletree. Theclip is connected to the end of the swingletree through the medium of aferrule 19, formed In the rear with the longitudinal passages thereofare the branch passages 20. When the horse is to be released from eitherswingletree, the bolts or plungers of that swingletree'are retracted,and to retract the bolts a cord 22is provided for each of theswingletrees and has its ends passed through the branch passages and themain passages and attached to the inner ends of the bolts or plungers,so that by pulling upon the central portion of the cord both bolts orplungers will be retracted.

In the use of two swingletrees, as illustrated, a cord 23 has its endsattached to the central portions of the first-named cords, and a fourthcord is attached to the central portion of the cord 23, this fourth cord24 being passed rearwardly beneath the body of the vehicle and through aguide 25 at the rear thereof, where it is attached to a'ring 26. In thefloor of the vehicle next to the dashboard is an opening 27, and thecord 24 is bent upon itself, and the bight thus formed is passed throughthe perforation in the floor of the vehicle, where the cord passesthrough a ring 28. With this arrangement if the ring 28 is raised thecord 24 will be drawn to retract the bolts or plungers, at which timethe ring 26 will lie close against the guide 25 and prevent withdrawalofthe freeend of the cord .therethrough. When the ring 26 is pulled,

the cord 2-1: is drawn through the ring 28, the latter then acting as aguide for the cord to prevent lateral displacement thereof as well as tokeep the cord 24 from droppingor sagging. It will be understood thatwhere a single draft-animal is hitched the cord 24 will be attacheddirectly to the cord 22 on the swingletree, there of course then beingonly one swingletree used.

W hat is claimed is-=- The combination with a vehicle including a bodyhaving an opening through'the floor thereof, of a swingletree havingtrace-holding devices including bolts and means for holding themyieldably in operative positions, a

retracting-cord connected with the bolts, a guide at the rear end of thebody of the vehicle, through which the cord is passed, a

of the cord above the floor of the body, and through which the cord isfree to pass. 10

In testimony whereof I affix my signature said cord being bent uponitself to form a bight portion which is passed upwardly through theopening in the floor of the body, and a ring engaged through the bightportion HARRY F. SPIEGEL.

handle attached to the rear end of the cord, in presence of twoWitnesses.

Witnesses:

M. OLAF HAUSKEN, CHRIST HIEB.

